Harbhajan Singh, who has had a injury and bad season was ruled out of the team last year and has not yet made to the selection even once from then. As we are nearing to the ICC T20 World Cup 2012, the 15 member Indian squad to fly to Sri Lanka for the world cup was announced. Interestingly, Harbhajan Singh was listed among the 15 members of the squad to make the inexperienced Indian spin attack look stronger. HArbhajan Singh played his last game for India in July of last month and since then he has been facing problems to return back to the side. On selecting Harbhajan for the world cup, Sourav Ganguly the former Indian Captain thinks that Harbhajan is one of the best spinners of India and that the off spinner from Punjab is such a cricketer who has 700 international wickets under his belt, over 12 years of experience should not be out of the international arena over a year and definitely deserves a place in the Indian team.

The T20 World Cup 2012 to be conducted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) is being hosted by Sri Lanks and is going to start from the 16th of September, 2012. As, the T20 world cup is approaching the Indian selectors announced the 15 member Indian squad comprising of:

Sachin Tendulkar, one of the greatest cricketers has made it clear that he is in no plans to quit from international cricket this soon. He has been playing cricket nearly for 22 years but the master blaster feels that the moment has not yet come to retire from his favorite game. Sachin has scored over thirty thousand runs in International cricket and is still looking good at the crease with the same thirst for runs that he used have at his younger days.

The master has been awarded ‘Castrol test cricketer of the year’ for the year 2011 and has 100 international hundreds on his name. Even at nearly thirty years of age the little master from India looks energetic on the field and is a good runner between the wickets. Although, his co-senior team mates Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman announced their retirements Sachin seems to have no plans or thoughts of retirement as of now. This is infact a good news to all his fans all over the world who doesn’t want him to retire any still continue playing cricket. Hope, Sachin Tendulkar stays fit and continues playing cricket as long as he can and entertain all of us.

We have been witnessing some good cricketers retiring from international cricket this year. Earlier, it’s Dravid and Laxman from India and now its Andrew Strauss’s turn to retire from international cricket and give away his captaincy. Strauss played nearly 10 years of international cricket and in this journey has completed playing 100 test matches for England and scored more than ten thousand international runs. He has a great cricketing career all these years and is proud of all that he achieved. He felt that he should thank his family, ECB, PCA, all his coaches, support staff, PCA, Duncan Fletcher and Andy Flower for all their support they provided to him all these years and without them his cricketing career would not be fruitful. Alastair Cook will lead the English team after Andrew Strauss’s retirement in both test and ODI cricket. Congratulations for your successful career all these years and wish you all the very best for your future.

Rahul Dravid one of the best batsman and finest personality in the game of cricket, famously known as ‘The Wall’ who had served Indian Cricket for many years has been recommended for India’s 3rd highest civilian award ‘Padma Bhushan’ award by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket In India). The first and second highest civilian awards of India are ‘Bharat Ratna’ and ‘Padma Vibhushan’ repectively and Padma Bhushan lies next to them.

Rahul Dravid was recommended by the BCCI for this prestigious award and becomes the tenth cricketer to get Padma Bhushan if he is awarded the award. Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar are among the cricketers who earlier were awarded with Padma Bhushan award. Indian champion batsmen Sachin Tendulkar is the sole cricketer to be awarded with India’s 2nd highest civilian award, the ‘Padma Vibhushan’. Gautam On the other hand, Gautam Gambhir who has played key roles in India’s recent world cup achievement finals has been recommened for ‘Padma Sri’ award. So, congratulations to both the players on being nominated to these prestigious awards and let us wait & hope for the awards to be announced on their names.

VVS Laxman, one of the name to be remembered for a long time until the game of cricket especially test cricket will be played in India and all over the world has announced his retirement from International cricket recently. Everyone all around the world were surprised hearing of his retirement even though after getting selected to the New Zealand test series. Mahela Jayawardena is one of them who felt surprised of Laxman’s decision that everyone should call off some or the other day and VVS might have thought it’s time for him to quit the game and that the cricket world will definitely miss one of the better players of the game. Laxman is a classy player who entertained many people who enjoy test cricket and helped the team whenever they need him to. He is known as 2nd innings specialist and his name was renamed as Very Very Special Laxman.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Yuvraj Singh, one of the major performers who played key roles in winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2007 and ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 has suffered with a rare lung cancer last year and recovered completely. After suffering a lot and fighting cancer, Yuvraj and his family has finally got something to laugh out big as he was listed in the Indian T20 squad for the ICC T20 world cup to be played from 16th September in Sri Lanka.

Yuvraj who worked hard in the last two months to get fit for the world cup is happy to be back in the side as he did not think that he would get a chance again to play for India but is a bit nervous and feels he is going to be play his first game as he was away from the field from a long time. Many people expressed their happiness for Yuvraj Singh to be back in the side and now it’s the captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who welcomed Yuvraj Singh back into the side and that the cricketer from Punjab is not only an important asset for their team but even very important in lightning up and creating a healthy atmosphere in the dressing room. Dhoni also feels that Yuvraj is an added experience and will definitely be helpful for the new comers to get settled in the team and helped them out in various aspects of the game.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Virat Kohli has proved himself to be a true talent and a promising batsman for the future of Indian cricket with consistent performances this year. With his performances with the bat, he is been one of the hot topics and some people even compare him to the Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli reacting to this feels very pleasured, honored and blessed to be compared to his idol whom he literally worships but wants to keep his focus going on the game rather than these type of comparisons because Sachin has achieved many records that looks like mission impossible for Kohli and that thinking about those records will ruin his concentration on the game and increases pressure. Virat Kohli felt that Sachin has done a lot to Indian Cricket and dedicated the world cup to him similar to his fellow team mates. He is also trying to control his aggression on the field as he does not want to let his behavior climb on top of his game and concentrate on the game better than any other thing.

Virat is learning a lot from Dhoni being a vice-captain and backed the selection of Yuvraj Singh that, if Yuvraj Singh performs, it would be a great boost up for the team and will increase the chances of winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2012. Sachin himself spoke on an occasion and mentioned kohli’s name in response to a question asked about him about cricketers who might break his records. Virat Kohli is now 23 year old and has a long way to go in his cricketing career. Hope that he would change mission impossible to possible and stand up with Sachin’s words.

Australia and Pakistan are all set to play a three match ODI series in UAE as a part of preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup 2012 which is scheduled to start on 16th of the next month. Pakistan is currently playing home series away from home in different countries due to security reasons and so selected UAE as the venue to play this three match ODI series against Australia. This series was planned to be actually played in Malaysia but due to climatic conditions in that country, they shifted the venue to UAE.

Both Pakistan and Australia has not performed well in their recent matches against different oppositions and have dropped to sixth and fourth positions respectively in the recent ICC ODI rankings. The broadcasting rights for the ODI series and three T20 match series are bought by Ten Cricket to telecast the series in Pakistan, USA, Canada and countries of Asia. While the rights for UK was bought by Zee Café and for Australia by Fox sports. However, the players from both the sides have to face and play under very hot conditions of different parts of UAE where the matches will be played. The Pakistan-Australia three match ODI and T20 series ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2012 will be played in three different venues of United Arab Emirates including Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The Sri Lankan Premiere League 2012, first edition of the T20 league in Sri Lanka is running successfully and players like Lasith Malinga, Mahela Jayawardene feels that, the SLPL 2012 ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2012 will be very helpful and that would certainly help the team’s performance in contending better for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup starting this September in Sri Lanka. The T20 World Cup to be played this year will be hosted by Sri Lanka and SLPL being played in Sri Lanka will help the home team to perform better as they will be used to the conditions and are getting a lot of practice on T20 cricket with this league. But Malinga, whose performance is not up to the mark, feels that he would perform better in the world cup which is to be commenced shortly on 16th of the next month.

On the other hand, the Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardena feels that the team’s preparation is good with the help of this league and is somewhat worried on the injuries of the players and concludes that there are more positives to be carried on than the negatives and that the team is stronger and definitely a good contender for winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2012 with good preparation and home advantage.

Indians once again proved that they are pretty strong at home as they won the recently concluded the 1st test match against New Zealand by an innings & 115 runs at Hyderabad to lead the two test match series 1-0. Not only that, this is the first test match win for the men in blue after two very bad overseas tours against Australia and England. Ravichandran Ashwin and Cheteshwar Pujara were the major contributors for the win. Ashwin recorded his career best magical bowling figures of 12 for 85 claiming 12 wickets of the black caps and giving India a fabulous test match victory after losing nine consecutive matches.

Ashwin took six wickets each in two innings and turned clueless for the Kiwi batsmen showing variety in his spin bowling. The tall right arm spinner from Chennai proved worthy of Indian spin attack lead with this spell, taking India forward with a 1-0 lead in the two test match series against between India and New Zealand. The other performance to look out for from the Indian point of view is Cheteshwar Pujara who scored his maiden test hundred and being compared to greats like Rahul Dravid batting at no.3 position. Pujara scored 159 and showed a lot of maturity and patience in his batting making sure that his team would post a strong total in the first innings. From the New Zealand point of view, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum and K Williamson have somewhat tried to stop the Indian bowling attack but the men in blue were unstoppable. However, the absence of Daniel Vettori is a big minus for the kiwis. So, all in all it’s a good effort by India and hope the black caps will come out with better plans in the second test to equal the test series at Bangalore.

Its all praises for the Under 19 Indian team for winning the world cup a few days back under Unmukt Chand. Now, it is the little master who congratulated and showered praises that the young Indian team has made the country proud by bringing home the wonderful U-19 world cup that too against one of the strongest teams of the tournament on Australian soil. This is been a wonderful achievement by the junior team because the senior team failed to showcase and had a very bad tour last year losing all the matches of the test series against Australia in Australia where, the pitches have lot of pace and bounce and when compared are far more different from the Indian pitches.

Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain also congratulated the U19 team on winning the world cup. So, it’s a big moment for the cricket craze country winning the ICC cricket World Cup in 2011 and winning Under-19 world cup this year. It’s a lot of character and maturity shown by the U19 team of India who held their nerve chasing a competitive target on a big stage. So, hope this momentum in the country continues and gives more hope and mental strength to the senior team for winning the ICC Twent20 World Cup 2012 starting from September 16, 2012.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Everyone like stick animation, so how about playing a game with the combination of your favorite cricket sport and stick figures. Sticksport.com packed with amazing stick cricket games like Ashes Dominator, Cann cricket, ENG Vs RSA, Exhibition Slog, IND Vs NZ, Premier League, World Cup Edition, World T20 and many more. You can also enjoy playing multiplayer cricket game with a single keyboard, so now enjoy playing stick cricket with your friends online.

Cricketgames.me is a gaming site entirely dedicated for cricket games. The site has a collection of flash games related to cricket and the collection consists of games like cricket rivals, Indo Pak cricket showdown, cricketer premier league, India Vs Australia, Smashtastic cricket, Tabletop cricket, cricket world cup 2011, defend the Ashes, gully cricket and many more games. All the games available in this website are free to play and there is no need of unnecessary registration, just go to the website select a game and enjoy the play.

We all know how the Indian senior cricket team brought glory to the country and fans last year in April 2011 by winning the ICC Cricket World Cup under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. Now, it’s the junior boys who cherished at the big stage and brought home, the ICC U19 World Cup 2012 under the leadership of Unmukt Chand. It is a big moment for the boys winning a run chase especially against a one of the tournaments toughest teams, Australia that too in a situation where pressure is too difficult to hold because chasing any total in a world cup final is never easy. But, the junior boys from India held their nerve and ended up on a winning note bringing home the under-19 world cup hosted by Australia. The U19 team lead by Unmukt Chand looked like as if they followed the footsteps of the senior team as the team won the ICC Cricket world Cup 2011 final in the same fashion in a run chase and more interestingly with the unbeaten knocks from the captains leading their teams from the front helping their to reach the top of the mountain. This is the third ICC U19 world cup for India, equaling Australia’s record of winning an U19 world cup most times. Previous two U19 world cups were won by India under the captaincy of Mohammad Kaif in the year 2000 and under Virat Kohli in 2008. India is also the second nation after Australia to win ICC Cricket World Cup and ICC U19 World Cup in consecutive years.

The toss of the final match of ICC U19 World Cup 2012 was won by India where Indian captain, Unmukt Chand chose to field first. Australia in reply scored 225 runs and postes a target of 226 to the Indians which is a tough target because anything over 200 is a tough ask for any team in a world cup final. The Indians in the process lost some early wickets, but finally with some wonderful contributions from Chand, Patel and Aprajith they claimed the world cup by successfully beating Australia with six wickets remaining. We have to congratulate Unmukt Chand and Smit Patel for holding their nerve and playing with a lot of maturity by building up a 100-run partnership and bringing India home and ending up on a victory note. Unmukt Chand have scored an unbeaten 111 of 130 balls including 6 sixes and 7 fours. Smit Patel, the wicket keeper batsman of U19 team has well supported his captain scoring a useful half century. Baba Aprajith is another one to be appreciated as he is a genuine all rounder and a find of the tournament for India with contributions both from the bat and the ball. Harmit Singh, the tall left arm spinner from Punjab, is also to be looked upon because he has got the wicket taking ability and some inspiring economy rates. Lets congratulate Indian U19 team on their victory.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

World Cricket Championship – Google Chrome App
World Cricket Championship is a wonderful 3D game for cricket lovers developed by Nextwave Multimedia and is available in Google Chrome web store. There will be a 5 over match play mode and if you win the toss then there is an option to ball or bat first. The game can be played in offline mode that is you can enjoy playing this game even if you are not connected to the internet.